For the last year or so, I’ve been reading Will Rogers, The Man and His Times by Richard Ketchum. This hefty tome is the definitive biography of America’s favorite cowboy who, it turns out, was an Indian, and it was written with the assistance of the staff at the Will […]
The other day I posted a question on Twitter to which I have not received an answer, much less a satisfactory one: Why did Subaru spend millions of dollars to air an advertisement showing a guy peeing in his pants? So I had to come up with an answer myself. […]
I’m having enormous fun with a book called The Five of Hearts by Patricia O’Toole. It’s about five friends who meet in Washington, D.C., in 1880: Henry and Marian ‘Clover’ Adams, John and Clara Hay, and Clarence King. Henry Adams was the great-grandson of John Adams, the grandson of John […]
I have tried on numerous occasions to read the works of my grandmother’s cousin Edmund Wilson, but I usually read a chapter or two and I have to acknowledge that I don’t have the foggiest idea what he is talking about. Throughout my life, tho, I have always found that […]
I’m having enormous fun with Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, a book presented to me by my cousin Max. Philbrick does just what you want a scholar to do: sort through all the historical sources and give you the gist of the story. I’m really enjoying this book, even though […]
I stopped watching hockey after game six of the Summit Series between the USSR and Canada in 1972. In that series, the Canadians were being trounced by the finesse play of Russian players like Valeri Kharlamov. In game six, Bobby Clarke of the Philadelphia Flyers smashed Kharlamov with his […]
I just went through a pretty serious bout of the flu, so I was in bed for a week and took the opportunity to reread Fifth Business by Robertson Davies. This brilliant book is the first of the Deptford Trilogy, but it definitely stands alone. And how! The stupid jerk […]
Exposure to asbestos, a material once commonly used in the construction industry, is now known to cause malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer. How, I ask, did the public find out about this? Did any of the agencies of government charged with protecting the public find out about it […]
I think it’s brave when people sing even if they don’t have a very good voice or just don’t know how to do it very well. I thought of this while watching Russell Crowe in Les Miserables. It reminded me of Paint Your Wagon, one of the best movies ever […]
I just finished reading Serenade by James M. Cain, and I’m afraid I cannot tell you whether I recommend this book or not. I will say this: If you’re looking for something completely different, this book is for you! Here’s my take, with lots of spoiler alerts. Maybe one person […]